India gets first suspected case of Mpox; no cause for alarm, says govt
Patient stable and isolated at designated hospital; samples collected and being tested to confirm presence of Mpox; contact tracing ongoing, says health ministry
A man who recently travelled from a country experiencing Mpox (monkey pox) transmission has been identified as a suspected case of the disease in India, the Union health ministry has said.
The patient has been isolated at a designated hospital and is currently stable, it said on Sunday (September 8), adding that there is no cause for concern.
Samples have been collected from the man and are being tested to confirm the presence of Mpox.
No cause for alarm: Govt
“The case is being managed in line with established protocols, and contact tracing is ongoing to identify potential sources and assess the impact within the country,” the ministry said.
The development of this case is consistent with the earlier risk assessment conducted by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) and there is no cause of any undue concern, it said.
The country is fully prepared to deal with such isolated travel-related cases and has robust measures in place to manage and mitigate any potential risk, the ministry added.
Vaccines in Congo
This comes three weeks after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Mpox outbreak in 12 African countries a global emergency.
Congo, which remains the epicentre of the global health crisis, on Thursday (September 5) received its first batch of 100,000 doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine, donated by the European Union through its health emergency agency HERA.
These vaccines may protect health workers and vulnerable populations, but the number is only a small fraction of the 3 million vaccines needed to end the outbreak in Congo.
(With agency inputs)
